Really fun Guest interview and Free Stuff!!!

Hey Peeps!
You do not want to miss this today. I repeat, You do not want to miss this. I have a fantastic interview today with Brett Tally author of That Which Should Not Be. This book is perfect for upcoming Halloween so you should grab a copy.... or.....you could win it here!!

But that's not for me to tell you about. That's for Amy to tell you about.
That's right, Amy Eye, Editor of most excellence, radio show co-host, Creative Reviews Moderator, yadda yadda yadda, if i told you all of her accomplishments we'd be here all day. But one more, she is a great friend of mine and super hilarious. So her interview with Brett is totally entertaining.

DO NOT MISS THIS.

Before I post the goods let me tell you about Amy. She is an Editor. Yes, my editor and editor to many. Check out her website: http://theeyesforediting.com/
Check out Amy:

Yup, she's pretty and nice.

So now that you know a little about my guest let us get on with her interview with Brett.

Oh My Goodness people, I am writing all over Cambria’s blog!  I have the sudden urge to pick up a crayon and just scribble all over the place, draw little hearts, peace  signs and stick figures   

 (which is about as far as my artistic skills go).  Know what the best thing about all of this is?  She told me I could!  So anything that may offend, disgust or disturb you, you can blame it all on your blogger friend, Cambria.  J

I am excited that I not only get to write my very first guest blog post for The Unlocked Diary, I got to do an interview with JournalStone’s new super-stud author, Brett Talley!  If you haven’t heard of him yet, get out from under your rock and PAY ATTENTION.  This is some good stuff comin’ right  atcha!

Mr. Brett has written a book called That Which Should Not Be.  This is the perfect time of year for you people to pick this book up.  It is getting close to Halloween time, and this book has the goods.  It will make you think about the dangers that await every time you close your eyes.  You want spooky?  It’s  here.  You want little tinglies up your spine?  Yups, it’s got that too.  Check out the cover of this book…

You cannot look at this cover and NOT think that it’s got some  goodies inside.  And if you think that, you are one sharp cookie – give yourself a pat on the back, then go out and buy the book.  You will NOT regret it.  I have given this book a five star rating – It has  awesomestastic gooeyness oozing  from every page to where you will be licking  it off your fingers and savoring  it for days  to come.  Yes, it’s a bit visual, but you get the idea. 

Now, would you like to get to know the guy who wrote this  book?  Of  course you do!  I know the ladies will want to anyway!  Brett, please show yourself, good sir…

  Yup!  This is him, stylish blazer and all.  He doesn’t really look the type to be scaring your pants off, now does he?  Well, that is why you should never judge a man by his looks alone.  (That is a very helpful tip from me to all you ladies out there…)

Here is my recent interview with Brett!

Who did your cover (I’m wanting it for my screensaver…)?

Denise Daniel did the design and Philip Renne did the art itself.  It’s pretty fantastic, huh?  I think that’s when I really started to get excited about the whole process, when I saw the cover.  Until then, it all seemed so hypothetical.  But when I opened that email, all I could say was “Wow!”

I am in complete agreement; this cover is to die for!!

What is your favorite way to relax?

I love college football (Roll Tide) and movies, so that’s usually what I find myself doing. One of the reasons I started writing was that I felt like I was wasting too much time.  Now if I spend all afternoon watching movies but I write at the same time, I feel like I am being productive!

I am curious how many times you have to rewrite a line because you are yelling at refs.

What is the best way to get in trouble on a Friday night?

I love old, abandoned buildings.  Factories, insane asylums, that sort of thing.  I am always trying to get people to go with me, but no one ever does.  You have to watch out or you’ll get arrested for trespassing.

   

This is Brett staying on the OUTSIDE of the places, staying on the right side of the law.  Way to be a role model, Brett!

Have you ever eaten SPAM?

Can’t say that I have.  I like my meat to come from a readily discernible animal. 

*sniff*  No one likes the SPAM.

Who was the first person you told that you won the JournalStone Horror novel contest?

I was actually in Chicago for a wedding.  My girlfriend and I were walking along the shores of Lake Michigan when I got the call.  So she was the first to know.

Can you tell us about your scariest nightmare?

I have very detailed and complex dreams, and I actually wrote a story about the scariest nightmare I ever had.  It involved a factory whose owner is able to owner to scrub the memories of his workers of all the horrible things that have ever happened to them.  Instead, they will only remember the greatest thing that ever happened to them.  In exchange, however, they have to become mindless drones who work in the factory.  I thought it was pretty terrible, but I’ve never been able to sell the story, so it might have been all in my head.  

I guess there wouldn’t be too many great things happening to them after the mindless drone stage, huh?

All the ladies want to know…what is your shoe size, and what is your favorite brand of shoe?

I wear a size 11, and if I can get away with it I always wear boots, Ariat being my favorite brand.

Can we expect to hear more about Carter?

Absolutely.  Carter has a lifetime of stories to be told, and I am very interested in learning more about him and his life.  I also think that the sort of Gothic, cosmic horror style of That Which Should Not Be could be about to experience a renaissance.  I have to believe the day of the sparkly vampire and sexy werewolf is coming to an end.  And while I love a good zombie yarn, there is only so much you can do with the undead.

WOO HOO!!  (That is all I have to say about that!)

Having said that, my next book is very different.  If you want a sneak peak, you can check out a story I recently wrote for the Absent Willow Review, “The Substance of Shadow.”

I will be heading that direction right after I finish this blog post!

If you had to choose between driving a Mary Kay car or a clown car, which would you prefer?

Mary Kay car, for a couple reasons.  1.  You can make a lot of money selling cosmetics.  And 2. a clown car has to have certain specifications.  It has to be small enough to amuse, but big enough to hold 10 or 15 clowns.  I know of no such limitations to a Mary Kay car.  You could have a Mary Kay Ferrari as far as I know. 

I’d be down with a Mary Kay Harley  J

Would you consider writing a story outside of the horror genre?  If so, what genre would it be?

I love to try my hand at different things, and even if I settled into one genre I would still try and do different things with my writing.  I have often written stories outside of the horror genre.  I have two whole unpublished novels that are literary fiction.  I’m probably better at horror though, so for now I am going to stick to that.  One day I would like to do a very literary horror novel and see how that works out. 

What is your favorite banned book?

It seems like every book has been banned by somebody for some reason or another at one time, so that is probably a broader question than one would think.  1984 is probably one of my three favorite books, and it’s been banned by any government that has ever tried to suppress its people.  I hope my book gets banned somewhere. 

Hmmm, side project for Amy?? 

When writing, do you like to listen to the theme song from jaws, or do you have a soundtrack of scary noises that put you in the mood?

I don’t usually listen to music when I write, but I do like to have Syfy movies on in the background when I write.  Saturdays are by far my most productive days.  Something about the cheesy wonderfulness of their movies inspires me.  Maybe that’s not a good thing…

                    

                        Keep watching,Brett!!

What was your least favorite book?

I know some people are going to hate me for this, but I only read the first 75 pages of Twilight before I just couldn’t do it anymore.  I tried!  I really did.  But I just couldn’t do it.  I’m not going to say they are bad books—no book that has that much cultural influence can really be called bad—but they just weren’t for me.  Maybe if I was younger… And female. 

At least you gave it a go!!

What is your opinion on hobos?

I’m sure being a hobo is pretty awful in reality, but man, they seem romantic.  At least once a month I find myself staring off at a passing train and thinking, “I just want to jump on that thing and let it take me wherever it goes.”  There is something about the freedom that can only come from having nothing to lose that I find intoxicating. 

I love hobos…

Who is your favorite fictional character and why?

Darth Vader.  I don’t know that I have some deeply meaningful reason for that, he was just the perfect bad guy and, like most kids in the 80s, I grew up loving Star Wars.  I think it’s the music.  I’ve always wanted my own theme song.  I think if I had three wishes, that would be one of them.  A theme song. 

OH YEA!!  You have now inched your way up on my “super-cool authors list.” That is a very hard list to get on, and you are zooming your way towards the top.  Sorry though, J.K. Rowling will always have top spot.

When you finished your first draft, how long did you take on your editing?

It’s a good thing I like my book, because I have probably read the thing 20 times.  It took a year between finishing the first draft and publishing the novel.  I spent a lot of that time refining the book, working out the kinks.  Given that writing it only took about six months, I definitely spent more time on the editing process. 

Are you sick of answering my questions yet? 

Never.

See what I mean about the super cool list? This  guy is a peach!

Have you ever participated in any extreme sports?

Not really.  I want to go sky diving one day, but that’s still on the list.  I would also like to run with the bulls.  Being an Alabama football fan seems like an extreme sport at times.  

 This looks like a fairly extreme sport to me!!

If you won the lottery, what charity would you donate money to?

My dad is a cancer survivor, so I would definitely give a big chunk to that cause. 

For all of those who missed your interview on Journal Jabber (shame on you!!) – tell us what your inspiration for writing this book was.

I love horror, and I am always looking for new books to read.  I had been reading a lot of experimental horror at the time.  Post-modern stuff, lots of footnotes.  I had wanted to write a novel for a while, and I started thinking that I rarely came upon old-fashioned, Gothic horror novels.  So I decided to write one.  I had been throwing around this idea about four men who meet to discuss their past for a while, and once I had Carter Weston and his quest, the book just sorta wrote itself. 

Tell all of the Unlocked Diary readers where they can get your book, and where they can get their fill of Brett Talley.

That Which Should Not Be is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  I am on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, and LibraryThing.  I also have several stories that were published on the Absent Willow Review, a great site for short horror fiction.  I am always looking for new friends, and I would love to talk about my book with anyone who is interested.

Brett is also going to be a guest host on the BESTEST blog talk radio show EVER – Journal Jabber September 27^th and Oct 25^th.  Check out http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journaljabber to see what he has to say about all sorts of fun stuff. 

Now that you have all made it to the end of my very first guest blog entry, I should  tell you about something SUPER COOL!!

We are going to be giving away a free copy of Brett’s book!  Want to get your own e-copy?  Here’s your chance to get it for free.  Leave your name and e-mail address here at the bottom of the page.  WAIT WAIT WAIT!!  I love your enthusiasm, but wait just a second.  You have a way to get some bonus entries.  Oh yea.  I am giving out bonus entries!  That Which Should Not Be is published by JournalStone, and what better way to help support Brett than by supporting his publishing house?  Go by and like JournalStone’s FaceBook page  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journalstone/137564205599 and get a bonus entry. 

Want one more?  Go to  JournalStone’s website http://www.journalstone.com and sign up for their newsletter and get ANOTHER entry!  Leave a message down below with what you did, and once it is verified, you will have extra entries!

Thank you so much to Cambria for letting me take over The Unlocked Diary for a day.  It was SUPER fun!!